notes from the creatives at portland's scarlet star studios

September 23, 2005

sketchbook collages

by sven at 5:35 pm

Ah, it's been a while since I posted new art -- and I've been crazy with making!

09.09.05

After watching the movie "bodysong", I really wanted to do some art of my own, but didn't have any clear images in my head. So, to try something new, I used the Google "images" function to find some pictures to collage with.

"Where does it hurt?" uses a police diagram for where to look for concealed weapons. I misread it at first, thinking it was pain points used to incapacitate a person -- that's where the title came from. The image of the police was photocopied onto a transparency, and then I painted blue acrylics behind the faces.

09.12.05

I started this one the same night, but didn't finish it til the next day. I was interested in doing more superimposed images, so I tried sending pieces of paper through the photocopier twice. You've got a nude with music notation on her, and a newborn with a police squad on top of it. The composition didn't quite fit the page, so I did some doodles in acrylics to fill the space and give it some life.

09.12.05

This one marks a bit of a turning point -- I started getting a sense of this new style that I want to explore more. You've got the moon with two sides of my face, and then a whole bunch of fish with dead bodies superimposed. For that bit, I took a magazine page and photocopied on top of it.

Very cool synchronicity: On the same day that I made this, our friend Joanne wrote a poem about hurricane Katrina that mentions a "watery grave". I hadn't read it yet, and I really didn't have anything in mind when I made this -- I was just throwing things together -- but clearly it's a picture of a "watery grave". Neat!

09.12.05

This one was difficult to get a decent photo of. On the left hand page you have a blown-up photocopy of my face. On the right hand page is the same image reversed, photocopied onto a piece of transparency, which is attached to a piece of black paper with cardstock using gromits. Frustratingly, you can see reflections of the camera and the diningroom light fixture on the slick transparency. ...Sort of Andy Warhol-esque, to my mind.

09.13.05

Ah, now here I'm getting back to this new style I'm pursuing. Started it the night before, finished it the next day. I liked the image of the moon with two faces enough that I photocopied it and used it once again. Gluing the yarn in was somewhat daring for me: I haven't really ever put anything so 3D into one of my sketchbooks before.

09.15.05

I did this one our Open Studios collage night. Gretchin wanted a title, so I dubbed this it "nature god" (for no special reason). The "world" the character is standing on is actually a human egg, which I found on the cover of a magazine -- not that it's supposed to mean anything. The leaf is photocopied and tinted with acrylics. The horns are little tin snippings I had hanging around. Once again, getting daring and gluing in 3D bits.